Zimbabweans in rural areas "fear for their lives," a church official said after a report warned that Zimbabwe is headed toward civil war.

Postelection attacks have been "most severe" in rural areas, and many Zimbabweans in these areas may be too afraid to vote for the opposition in the runoff presidential election June 27, said Alouis Chaumba, head of Zimbabwe's Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace.

However, many people in the country's towns and cities "are motivated to vote again to ensure an end to the present system," he told Catholic News Service in a May 26 telephone interview from the capital, Harare.

"Many communities feel that voting will be an act of solidarity with their friends who have been killed or wounded in the violence, so that they did not die in vain," Chaumba said.